Pinwheel| A Seventeen FF

Villains

Edited~

Jeonghan POV:

The same old teak wood smell... How nostalgic!

Once again, I found myself in front of our old mansion's giant teakwood gate. The hinges have rusted over lack of maintenance and the carved handles made of silver have lost their spark and shine, just like the mansion. I glided my fingers through the lion-head carved handle and unlocked the door.

I don't visit the mansion often. It gives me uneasy vibes. After all this mansion's happy memories, the ghosts of the past prevail and mock my current state. My happy childhood self grew up here, my tragic adulthood-self, wants to disappear from here.

The floor has a thin coating of dust and the curtains cover every window, allowing not even a beam of sunray to enter. The ambiance is already mournful and I loathe the huge painting that cannot be ignored.

The moment I entered through the front gate and the halls, the giant painting covering a fair amount of walls, greets me. The stairs part midway in the front and the space on the wall above is occupied by the family picture, painted by hand and gifted to my dad by one of his best friends in the past.

I climbed the stairs to get closer to the painting. At this moment, it was only the candlesticks that were fixed on both ends of the painting, that illuminated the place dimly. The mansion doesn't only look abandoned but haunted too because of the dramatic effect of the candlesticks.

There is a chandelier hanging exactly 6 feet off the ceiling, made of pure silver and glasses, reflecting elegantly in the glass of the painting. A faint piano tune can be heard in the background. I perfectly recognize it. The melody is one of a kind and can only be played by the members of our family. The melody was Mom's original when she was a professional pianist. Was.

With her smiling face while carrying the three laughing children and engulfed in a huge bear hug by her husband, the painting now only seems like a distant dream. If only things didn't turn out ugly. If only she didn't have to run away taking only one of us. If only there was a better solution than divorce.

I let out a huge sigh as my feet turned away from the painting. There is no limit to one's salvation when their heart keeps burning with the past wounds. And I am not the only one who yearns for freedom.

I climbed the left stairs and followed the piano tune. I don't have to guess who it could be. There is only one more person who shares the same wounds as me. We could have been great companions and comrades if only one of us kept our ego aside and accepted that indeed, it hurts.

But like the prideful bastards we are, we choose to hide and suffer alone rather than present our raw selves in front of each other. I won't accept that I remember and he won't accept that he plays the same tune every day which belonged to Mom.

Among us three, Jihoon is the youngest. He was dearest to all of us and was loved the most in the family. Mom and Dad loved him and spoiled him while me and Jisoo played all kinds of pranks on him. It was a daily sport for us.

I remember how his tiny feet couldn't match our pace as we ran through the same hallways that I was walking through. But it used to be filled with our giggles. Now, it is filled with darkness and pain.

I reached the door and stood in front of it. As if on cue, the piano tune changed. He must have heard my footsteps in the hallways. I waited for him to adjust.

A few minutes passed by. The tune he was playing now was wobbly, indicating, he was nervous. I knocked on the door without keeping the anticipation too long.